SLBC Tunneling To Take Two Years, Uttam Tells Officials To Gear Up
SLBC tunnel work to resume with expert team after February accident, completion to take two years
The SLBC tunnel project, work on which was halted following the February accident in the tunnel in Nagarkurnool district, will take at least two years to be completed. With nearly 10 km of the tunneling still left, using the traditional drill and blast method, it is expected that it will take a year to dig around 4.8 km of tunnel using this method.
Irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday discussed details of the required geological and geophysical survey with scientists from the National Geophysical Research Institute. The survey and its findings are vital to pick a safe bypass route for the tunnel which experts have already said cannot progress in its original alignment due to shear zones and soft rock zones with one such area resulting in the collapse inside the inlet side of the tunnel near the Srisailam reservoir in Nagarkurnool district.
Once the geophysical studies and an aerial LIDAR survey are completed, a fresh rerouting of the tunnel to bypass the shear zones will be arrived at, following which tunneling work is expected to resume.
Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed confidence that with Col. Parikshit Mehra, a renowned tunneling expert from the Border Roads Organization now on board with the irrigation department on deputation, work on the SLBC tunnel, as well in other tunnel works related to other irrigation projects, will be completed as planned, and safely.
At a meeting with senior irrigation department officials, attended by Col. Mehra, Uttam Kumar Reddy said preparations for resuming the tunneling work should be speeded up. Reiterating the government’s commitment to complete the project which he described as a lifeline for Telangana, the minister said SLBC’ completion must be treated as a top priority and executed with urgency.
He also added that General Harpal Singh, former Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army, would soon be appointed as an honorary advisor to strengthen the department’s technical capacity and execution capabilities for completing tunnels and other works of various irrigation projects.